Wouldn't canned air (or from an air compressor) be best for cleaning?

I'd be concerned about eventual corrosion and buildup of coffee crud (even if they are stainless steel)....

Following along here and been playing around with my Kruve.

I got the black one last week and it fits in with my setup perfectly.

A few observations. Posting quickly from my phone before work so sorry if I ramble.

I am using a LIDO E. La Pavoni Europiccola, V60, Aeropress, Cheney and a cold Bruer are my main methods

So far for espresso I don't think I will use the sifter. It just is too messy and my grinder actually seems to be very consistent already (Which I now know from the Kruve. This is an awesome diagnosing side use this sifter is great at.) I am only getting <.8 grams of fines on 18g of coffee I have tried a few different settings.

It has been producing some great results with a V60 though. Even the sound and look of pouring into a bed of uniform grinds is satisfying. I seem get a better cup as I can grind finer as the fines are gone and will not slow down the pour. This morning a had a 2:20 s V60 that has more depth then I have tasted in a pour over in a while.

A few pages back some questions about calibrating the grinder came up. I don't really see the logic there. I have been instead calibrating the screen selection to match a timing and grind size I like and then closing the window between the two sieves to maximize conisistency while limiting waste.

I have been re grinding the boulders which seems to work well in the Lido. Not sure if there's any reason I shouldn't do this.

I am really looking forward to trying this for some cold drip as fines can really create some unpleasant tastes in a ~6h cold drip environment.

I also think making large servings with the Chemex will benefit from sifting as I find scaling up a chemex recipie for guests always seems to be unpredictable.

That's all for now. Will keep experimenting and following along here.

I got my Kruve in the mail the other day. I was pretty excited for it, but found that having such a uniformed size is almost detrimental to the full flavor experience of that coffee. Even as I type this I am thinking - is that really how I feel? But yes, I think it is. I will be experimenting with adding sieved fines back to the sifted coffee in a controlled amount.
Some amount of fines are necessary to provide complexity to the flavor, although I can't quantify that yet. I'm working to push my extractions higher to something around 22%-24% and hopefully that will taste more dynamic. Does anybody have experience adding small amounts of fines to the slurry later in the brew process? So many ideas, so many sifting. Its a nice tool to have, but figuring out how to use it best is important. Definitely a learning curve.

Oh, and I'm grinding with a Baratza Forte, using a temp controlled Bonavita + Acaia scales and an Atago refractometer in my analysis of the Kruve.

That's also my general experience with sieves. A couple pages back Tom Chips notes that he has good results with updosing sieved grounds, pushing his water to coffee ratio to 12:1 or similar. That kind of piqued my interest. While I haven't had a chance to try this yet, it seems like could improve the flavor in the cup.

Previously, I've removed fines, kept my brew ratio more of less the same (around 16:1), and tried grinding finer to make up for the flavors that were getting lost. This never worked satisfactorily for me. Maybe updosing is the answer?

Otherwise, i've heard people talk about adding fines back in to immersion brews late in the process to avoid over extraction. Seems like you could try something similar with a pourover, adding fines before a late pulse.

I tried my Giotto Rocket Blower on the sieves this morning. It did give the kitchen the wonderful smell of ground coffee, and make a mess in the kitchen sink with coffee powder, but didn't do much to get rid of clogged holes. Rinsing under the kitchen sprayer still seems to work the best, though I've yet to try a microfiber cloth. I do use an acid brush to brush the sieves a bit for clogs with varying results.

A shop vac might work better.

I'm still enjoying the coffee that I'm getting with the sieves and my BraZen. I'm going to try a cold brew batch with larger sieves once I roast up a nice Ethiopian.

cabellcoffee wrote:I got my Kruve in the mail the other day. I was pretty excited for it, but found that having such a uniformed size is almost detrimental to the full flavor experience of that coffee. Even as I type this I am thinking - is that really how I feel? But yes, I think it is...

Eastsideloco wrote:That's also my general experience with sieves. A couple pages back Tom Chips notes that he has good results with updosing sieved grounds, pushing his water to coffee ratio to 12:1 or similar...

It's certainly fun to play around with, but not generally the way I brew every coffee, either at home or work. It may not be everyone's cuppa, so it's something that should be tried and judged subjectively. I do think you loose complexity in exchange for clarity and separation. That may work well for bright clean coffees like the ones I mentioned before, but it may be detrimental to Indonesians and others that have their home in deep, complex maillard notes, rather than snappy fruits and bright acids.

cabellcoffee wrote:I got my Kruve in the mail the other day. I was pretty excited for it, but found that having such a uniformed size is almost detrimental to the full flavor experience of that coffee. Even as I type this I am thinking - is that really how I feel? But yes, I think it is. I will be experimenting with adding sieved fines back to the sifted coffee in a controlled amount.
Some amount of fines are necessary to provide complexity to the flavor, although I can't quantify that yet. I'm working to push my extractions higher to something around 22%-24% and hopefully that will taste more dynamic. Does anybody have experience adding small amounts of fines to the slurry later in the brew process? So many ideas, so many sifting. Its a nice tool to have, but figuring out how to use it best is important. Definitely a learning curve.

Oh, and I'm grinding with a Baratza Forte, using a temp controlled Bonavita + Acaia scales and an Atago refractometer in my analysis of the Kruve.

What EY are you getting so far with sifted coffee? Are you doing immersion or pourover?

ira wrote:So this morning I made what i at first thought was a rather stupid mistake, I left my Monolith Flat set for espresso while grinding for my morning Clever brew. I discovered this when after sieving, I found no grounds above the top screen. and a bit over 4 grams out of 32 past the 30 screen in the bottom. I brewed it for only 1 1/2 minute or so and it drew down much faster than expected and the surprise was, it was the best cup of coffee I've had from this bag so far. So my concerns about how fine they suggest the grind for drip is may be unfounded. I did the same later for a friend and he also commented how good it was.

Ira

Are you saying that at your espresso grind setting you get only 12.5% smaller than 300?

I settled on using the 1000uf and 350uf filters. I found that if I grind 22g I can recycle all the boulders and discard less than a gram of fines per batch. I only pull 3 shots a day. 2 in the morning on a pre millenium La Pavoni Europiccola. One late afternoon on a Francis Francis X3. The same grind works well in both. Pulling the same grind on a manual lever makes this so interesting. But that's a second impression.
I get about 25% boulders. I grind three 22g batches. If I recycle more boulders than I get out of a batch the shot flow increases and extraction gets bad at some point, also my maximum dose is decreased because the portafilter won't lock in with more boulders ground in the aggregate. That's not a problem because I'm getting better extraction at a lower dose.
The filtered grind looks very nice. I keep the boulders from one batch to use in the next so I only have to grind once, and then filter. Now that I've settled on the filters to use I can adjust flow with the grinder to get a good extraction in 45 - 70 seconds.
Taste is much improved, and very repeatable. I think the Kruve is a very nice tool. It will be interesting to read how it's put to use.
I'm cleaning the filters with a lottery card scratcher that I leave flat to push around, and a small stiff plastic brisled brush that came with an electric razor. It works.
I should correct mistakes in my earlier posts. Logic wanted me to taste sour because I had extracted fines and added boulders. I was wrong the taste is bitter that compliments the shot nicely. The 2 oz mark on my old caraf is not accurate. I tried to correct that with the funny math below.
My crude lab work: an 80 ml pull for 2 lattes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2/15/17 Francis Francis X3
In grams
(16.55 /40.45) x 100
.409 x 100
EBF = 41%
Temperature 183F in the stream below the portafilter.
-------------------------
--The beaker and scale
127.3 -46.4(beaker) = 80.9 (water with extraction)
2 lattes = 40.45per cup------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

16.55 for espresso
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think it's in the zone but wonder about this funny math?